Theresa Ahrens

Annual event held at the Madden Museum of Art in Greenwood Village

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July 8, 2016

The University of Denver honored those who have pledged to make an estate gift at the July 7 annual Pioneer Legacy Society event. Dozens of donors were celebrated for their generosity and support of DU by committing to make a gift to the University through their estate.

“This event is a great opportunity to gather some of our most loyal and visionary donors, to thank them for their generosity, and to keep them connected with all that’s going on at our University,” said Steve Shineman, the University’s senior director of gift planning. Chancellor Rebecca Chopp also met and spoke with the donors in attendance.

This year’s event was held at the Madden Museum of Art at the Palazzo Verdi in Greenwood Village. The Madden art collection recently was gifted to the University by developer John Madden. Jr. It consists of more than 120 artworks valued at $10 million.

“The collection itself is already helping us to build interest and commitment among other potential art donors," says Dan Jacobs, curator of DU's art collections. "I am immensely thankful to John Madden, Jr. and to his family for their support of this gift." The collection is rich in works by Italian painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It also features works by artists ranging from pioneering Western painters Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran to American masters Thomas Hart Benton and Robert Rauschenberg and contemporary Chinese-born American painter Hung Liu.

More than 1,200 donors have left estate gifts to the University. DU encourages donors to share the news of an estate commitment or other planned gift so the impact of the contribution can be shared. For more information, click here.